Watching the rain
by annndreeea
Summary: Landon also figures out what -who- the loophole is and he is not letting Hope jump into Malivore.
1. ch 1

"But nothing is ever immortal. I mean not really. Nature won't allow it; there's always a loophole." Hope quickly pointed out. _A loophole_... Her thoughts were interrupted by the goo that literally started to boil.

"Any brilliant ideas? because I think we're running out of time." Landon turned to look at her hoping she figured something out. He was so annoyed about this whole thing. How the hell was Malivore even his father? Some mud shaped to a gollum by the blood of a witch, a werewolf and a vampire through a spell. _Witch, werewolf and vampire. A tribrid. Oh shit._

Just after a few moments, Hope met his horrified gaze, and her own regretful and saddened look on her face made it clear they were both thinking about the same thing. They both figured it out.

"It's the only way." She finally said. She knew Landon would never agree to it, and neither would she, if there was anything else to do. Tears started to sting her eyes. Just the thought of what was expecting her made her shiver. Loneliness and darkness. And the fact that she'd never see Landon again was making her stomach ache.

"No. No, it can't be." Landon protested. He'll be damned if he let her jump into that hell. "There has to be something else." He is not losing her to his so-called father.

"I love you, Landon." She smiled weakly. She let the tears fall. They were running out of time. She knew what she had to do.

Hope was fast, but so was Landon. He grabbed and dragged her down before she got the chance to put the other foot on another bar. He pinned her down with both of his hands and legs. "I love you too, Hope." He said through gritted teeth due to the effort he was making just to hold her down. "Which is why I can't let you do this."

"Landon-"

"Don't." He totally ignored her threatening tone. "Don't 'speech' me about what's best for the world because I don't care." his voice was shaky. "Not if you're not in it." His eyes were glistening.

And Hope's heart was breaking. Thank God he wouldn't remember her. It would've been too painful for both of them.

She set herself free from Landon's grip, then tossed him into a wall. She didn't mean to hurt him - it was the last thing she'd do - except she knew he wouldn't just quit trying to stop her. "This isn't about the world!" She raised her voice, annoyed. He simply wouldn't understand. "This is about you! Do you-"

"I don't care that it's about me!" He shouted just after he got up, not even paying attention to the awful pain in his back. He couldn't care less. "Whatever he'd do to me doesn't terrify me as much as it terrifies me the thought of never hearing your voice again." His voice was cracking. "Of never seeing your sweet smile or your incredibilly beautiful eyes." Tears were trickling down his cheeks while getting closer to her. "Of never hearing you laughing every time I say something stupid."

Hope let out a quiet sob as she closed her eyes and more tears fell from her eyes as well. She was hesitating. Which meant Landon's plan was working. "I wrote you a new song and I have to sing it to you." He was only a few feet from her.

The pit was suddenly bublling louder. It distracted Hope from her thoughts, and Landon took it. In a blink of an eye, he grabbed the bar they used earlier to kill the horseman and before she could even react he used the other end of it and knocked her out. Lucky him he touched a soft spot and caught her off guard.

The goo started making weird roaring sounds. It was Landon's signal. He pulled her up in his arms and hurried to the exit. Thank God she was light so he could actually carry her instead of dragging her through all the dead bodies the horseman left behind.

The Triad facility was a maze. He accidentally ended up in the parking lot. _Luck is on my side today_. He thought. He propped up Hope's still unconsciuos body to the copilot's car door while he was trying to get the car started. Why the car wasn't locked was a story for another day. He rubbed some wires, like he saw in movies, and guess what! It worked! And they say watching tv is bad. He put Hope in the car, slammed the doors closed and pressed the pedals. The challenge was now getting out of the parking lot. There were so many rights and lefts! He finally found the exit after minutes of driving in a circle. When he found themselves on the road, he accelerated and didn't look back. He was going to fing another solution. Another loophole that doesn't involve his girl being sacrificed.

If that was possible.


	2. ch 2

Hope woke up to a hard thud the car made. She felt dizzy and her head hurt. She involuntary touched thr right side of her forehead, where it stung the most and felt wet. Sort of. She removed her hand to get a look and saw blood on her fingers. Aware that she might be in danger, her senses awoke. It was then when she realised she was in a car, and she was not alone. She saw Landon behind the wheel. "Landon?"

"Mornin'!" He said, casually. He tore his eyes from the road and gave her a smile, but also noticed the confusion on her face. "Do you remember anything? I mean, I did hit you pretty hard-"

"You what?!" She cut him off, surprised. Then it came. Malivore. The loophole. Her attempt to sacrifice herself. Landon... Her eyes opened wide and her face fell. "What have you done?" Dhe said just above a whisper. Her gaze never left Landon.

"I saved your life. You're welcome, by the way." He looked at her again. Of course she wanted to protect him, and so did he. They loved each other after all. "Look, I'm not sorry for what I did." He focused not to take the wrong turn, then spoke again: "Because I told you we'd figure out something else; another way to defeat him." Gis voice was low. He was tired.

Hope saw that too when they stared at each other for a few seconds before he went left and entered a new route. She scanned him, and her glance froze on the lower side of his abdomen. "Landon, pull over."

"What? Why-"

"Now, please!" The alarmin her voice made it obvious there was something wrong. He did as he was told, then he was all ears. If only there was something to be heard. Hope was quietly staring at a certain point on his shirt. He decided to take a look and oh well...

"You're bleeding." She finally stated. Their eyes met, amd he could tell she was seriously concerned.

"It doesn't even hurt." He assured her. Must've been why he didn't notice. "The horseman probably did this."

"Or me." She didn't exclude that she might've hurt him when he tried to stop her from jumping. She had to convince herself that ir was indeed the rider. "May I?"

He nodded, then watched her hands slowly approaching his wound. Little did he know that when she slightly pulled up his shirt and barely ecen touched the injury, his pain receptors awoke and he couldn't help the cry that escaped his throat because God, now it hurt.

"Sorry, I'm so sorry." She quickly drew back her hands and it revealed a long, deep cut that wasn't long away from getting infected. The horseman's whip definetly did this. Turned out it wasn't her. It brought her a moment of relief.

"It's okay, I'm fine." He told her, then turned on the car engine. There wasn't time to waste.

"No, wait!" She protested. She put her hand over Landon's on the wheel. It was a nasty one to not be taken care of. A thought crossed her mind. She took the sharpest thing she found in the glovebox and made a cut on her palm. It bled just enough before it healed. She stretched her hand to Landon. "Here, try this."

He gently grabbed her hand hand and took it to his lips. He sucked the blood from her palm. It tasted like actual metal. It almost made him throw up. But at least it eased some of the pain. For the moment, anyway.

"How do you feel?"

"I'm...I..." He couldn't even form the words as a searing pain pierced through his body. He clutched at his wound - which hurt worse now - with one hand and grasped the wheel for support with the other hand because the pain was becoming overwhelming. He groaned, and a scream followed.

"Landon!" She panicked right away. "What's happeni- what's going on?!" Could it be her blood? Did it affect him differently because he was a phoenix? Or what - what was wrong? She didn't know how to help. Oh, she had to think. Think! She noticed the tears dropping from his eyes, closed shut. He was suffering, that she knew.

And she was damn right. He felt like he was burning from the inside out. Actually, even worse. He couldn't imagine how it was possible fir something to cause so much pain. Hope's touch on his shoulder made him shiver, but it also calmed him down. It didn't hurt like it did a minute ago.

"Shh it's okay." Her voice cracked. She hated seeing him like that, and he hated that she was always seeing him like this. When he was weak. This feeling of constant weakness made him want to puke. And he was literally going to. He quickly opened the car door, coughed twice and spit out the blood he ingested earlier. Just like that, it all stopped. The agony, the sick sensation, everything faded away. He inhaled and exhaled once deeply, then closed the door.

When he turned to face Hope, she cupped his cheeks and pulled him into a thank God you're okay long, desperate kiss. She was the one to pulled away, since they both ran out of air, but she still let her forehead rest on his.

"You scared the hell out of me, Landon Kirby." She whispered to him. Because he did. She feared of the damage that - whatever that was - may have done. "What happened?" She asked vaguely. He probably didn't know either.

"I might have a theory." He found himself whisper back. Hope put some space between them. His answer surprised her, apparently.

"Go on..." She spoke out loud now. A theory was better than nothing.

"Altight, so: remember when I told you that Malivore's my dad?" He didn't let her answer. "And the fact that he was created from the blood of a witch, a werewolf and a vampire? Therefore we thought you were the loophole?" He made a short stop, and she nodded in sign of understanding. He continued: "So, since I'm his son, I probably inherited some of his characteristics, such as the vulnerability to, well, you. But the reason your blood didn't kill me is, maybe, because only your witch and werewolf parts are triggered."

"So you're saying that if I wake my vampire self-"

"Your blood will be the key to stop Malivore." He continued. It was plausible. Another idea hit him. "And you can abracadabra a knife to contain your blood! Poof, weapon!"

"Sounds like a plan." She sighted. Deep down, she didn't want to do this, but it was an upgrade from blindly jumping into a pit of doom.

"Ok so how do we do this?"

"You'll have to kill me." She hesitated before answering. "Painless, snapping my neck preferable."

"Oh God." He also considered the possibility of not working. He was afraid of hurting her.

"Yeah. After you kill me, start driving. I should wake up a few minutes before we arrive. When I come back, I'll have to feed on human blood." She instructed him.

"I guess my blood works, too." He was almost convinced. She confirmed it by nodding.

Only he didn't know one thing: by turning into a vampire, she'd lose the ability to practice magic. And she wasn't so happy about it. But being a witch was in her blood, which meant it should still work.

Landon saw the unhappiness on her face. "Are you sure you're okay?" He asked, concern heard in his voice.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." Was she? If giving up her magic would keep him and her friends safe, she was okay with it.

"But first we have to take care of your situation." She pointed to his wound. It seemed he forgot about it. "I'll go check the trunk for the first aid kit." With the fancy car Landon stole, it was impossible not to have one. There it is! She grabbed it, then returned to her seat. She took out a bottle of alcohol and unpacked a roll of bandage.

"What are you doing?" He asked doubtfully. He wasn't gonna like it.

"I have to clean it first." That definitely didn't make him relax. "This will hurt less that it'd hurt if it gets infected." She tried to sound reassuring. It wasn't a question, though.

She ripped a piece from the roll and poured some alcohol on it. "Lift your shirt."

He pulled up his shirt to give Hope access to the injury. She moved closer to him, then used the piece of bandage to wipe the blood and surpluses that represented a threat.

"Holy Jesus fucking Christ, auch! He swore, groaning. That hurt like a bitch.

"Sorry."

She hurried to wrap the rest of the bandage around the wound. After she was done, she made eye contact with Landon. They looked at each other so soft and full of love that they forgot about the problems they were into for a second.

Until Hope came back to her senses. "It's time."

He hesitantly put one hand under her chin and one on the top of her head. "Are you ready?"

The hell she was. She closed her eyes. That's all he needed. The sound of her neck cracking was louder than he expected and it made him shiver.

He followed her instructions and, when he was back on the road, he pressed the acceleration.

They were on the move again.

"Who, easy!" He remarked just after she woke up and gasped for air. It took him a moment to relax. "You scared me!" He playfully pushed her with his right hand.

His gesture made her chuckle. She still felt a little disoriented due to the transition. And she was hungry.

"Here." He stretched out his arm to her as if he read her mind. "Use the pen knife from the glovebox."

She found it and made a short cut on his lower arm. He hissed, but then nodded when her eyes asked silently for permission. She leaned in and drank the blood before it leaked off his arm. She drew back instantly, disgusted by the taste of it. She'll get used to it, anyway. Sooner or later.

So with the small of it. The cut she made on Landon's arm was still bleeding. She ripped a shred of her t-shirt, grabbed his arm and wrapped it around the cut. He raised an eyebrow when she looked at him.

"Sorry. The scent was too strong." She explained. "It could've tempted me."

"Yeah, right." He took the left and they both saw the sherriff station. "We're close." He stated.

"I heard you called me, Dr. S." Kaleb closed the door behind him.

"Yes, I did. I need your help."

"With?"

"Hope and Landon didn't come back and they won't answer the phone. Alaric informed, concerned. "I want to go find them, and since we can expect anything, I'm gonna need you." He was growing impatient.

Kaleb was aware of why Dr. Saltzman picked him. He wasn't going to put his daughters in danger, and with MG developing ripper characteristics, the death they could bump into was inevitable. Also, until Hope wasn't back, Rafael was still in his wolf form. So, with no comment added, Kaleb followed him out the door.

When they got to the van, and Tic was spinning his keys to find the car ones, they saw a car, Triad logo, not that far, coming their way. They prepared themselves.

The car stopped right in front of the van. Kaleb and Alaric were ready to face the intruder. What they didn't see coming was Hope coming out of the car and switching the side to help Landon out, offering him support because he was, apparently, hurt. The headmaster and the vampire lowered their guards and went to give them a hand.

Hope saw them coming. "Good, you're here. Listen up!" She spoke before they could. "First of all, Kaleb, get Landon to the medical lab and ask Dorian for help. When you're done, I want all three of you in my room."

Kaleb didn't need to hear it twice. He took Landon fully in his arms and vamp-ran to where Hope told him. Thank God it was weekend and not all students were around.

"Dr. Saltzman, I need you to come with me. I will explain everything, I promise, but now we're kinda on clock."

Speechless, Alaric let her drag him into his office.


End file.
